Keeping a UAV Aloft for 48 Hours – On Laser Power

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Lockheed Martin and LaserMotive recently managed to keep a drone, the Stalker Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), flying for 48 hours on a laser-guided recharging system.  Its on-board batteries can maintain flight for two hours, so the demonstration improves endurance by 2,400 percent. Your editor admits to possibly over-healthy skepticism regarding transmittal of power to aircraft, remembering early NASA demonstrations that were noisy and more lightning-like than focused.  LaserMotive’s technology seems to overcome these objections. Stalker is described by Lockheed-Martin as “a small, silent UAS used by Special Operations Forces since 2006 to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.”  The miniature plane  weighs a little over six kilograms (13.2 pounds) and has a wing span of three meters (9.84 feet).  As shown in the video, it can be hand-launched by a single soldier or enforcement office and fly for up  to two hours at up to 4600 meters above the ground.  In this video, narrated by that guy who’s heard in every …